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| Wednesday, 5 May 2004 |
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We are keen to play but not in present environment - Streak Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Zimbabwe HARARE, Tuesday, Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak said that all the rebel players were keen to get back and play for the country but in an environment where there was no discrimination in selections. "We all want to play cricket for Zimbabwe but we want to play in a fair and just environment. The guys want to get back and play for the national team but not under the present circumstances," he said in an interview. Streak said selection of the national teams had become a big problem in the past four to five years and it blew up during the Bangladesh tour here early this year when one of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) board directors had called the selectors and Streak and told them to reselect the team (for the second one-day international) that had already got the approval of the ZCU. "Basically what he told us was that there wasn't enough players of colour in the side and on those grounds to reselect the side," said Streak. Streak said the move to bring in black players to the national side began in 2001. "The concept was a good one to try and integrate blacks into the sport. It was explained to me that it would be based on merit only." "But when you start going to the degrees that they have gone to pick black players, which is not on merit then we have a problem. By selecting anyone whether white or black when they are not ready for international cricket is not fair on those people," Streak said. "There were other incidents where they went to the extreme of actually wanting to offer one of the players double match fee not to play so that they could include a coloured player. Then one of the provincial boards threatened to boycott and stage a pitch invasion if these changes to the side weren't made. These were serious issues, which needed to be addressed and straightened out so that it wouldn't happen again," Streak continued. "On moral and principle grounds I couldn't accept what was going on. I stood up for what I thought was the right thing. A number of meetings were held which did not lead to solving of these instances of discretions by the board." "In my view there was no mandate for them to actually resolve those issues they basically accepted that and said that it was alright for those things to happen. This was pretty stressful for me as for the other players. We got to the stage where we thought the board needed to address us otherwise we weren't prepared to play under the present conditions," he said. Streak said the issue could have been resolved amicably and not allowed to become a big issue, but some heated meetings took place where a lot of allegations and insinuations were made to all sorts of people, which resulted in the split become bigger. "I think the only way forward now is for them to go to an arbitration committee - an independent body looking at these issues so. If the ZCU thinks they have done the right things they wouldn't have a problem with going to arbitration. Four years ago an arbitration committee resolved a pay dispute between the players and the ZCU and Streak was hopeful the present crisis would also be determined the same way. "One of our main issues regarding the present issue was how the ZCU dismissed me. The other one was the discretion by the board members. They basically tried to justify the issues we brought and needed to be explained when they haven't done anything about the threats of boycott, the bribery allegations and also the instance when the director ordered the selectors who had selected a side through the ZCU and got its approval to reselect it," said Streak. The ZCU announced that Streak had retired from the game and went ahead and appointed 20-year-old Tatenda Taibu as the captain for the rest of the season. "It's not the country's politics but I think it is Cricket Board politics and certain individuals who don't have any interest in cricket at heart that has caused this problem, said 30-year-old Streak, one of the world's leading all-rounders in the game. He has represented Zimbabwe in 59 Tests and 183 one-day internationals since 1993-94. "The only reason why the board members are there is because of the players. If there weren't cricket there wouldn't be a Board. I think the board members have got to understand that the game is bigger than the person. We need people to administer the game but they've got to understand and value the players. They are the ones who bring in the money," he continued. "If you look at Sri Lanka, winning the World Cup was an asset. It is what turns money over. How the team performs buys the television rights and also brings in sponsorship and creates the income required to run cricket. The Cricket Board members and the players have got to have a very good working relationship," he said. Streak said that it would be a sad day for cricket if it gets to a situation the International Cricket Council is forced to review the Test status of Zimbabwe. |
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